Utopia
by Torakurai Abunai
Summary: A young woman, struck by amnesia, finds herself in a world she knows nothing about... Gradually, she will have to build a new life there... making a mess of quite a lot of people's life, in particular of a famous scarecrow's one ! Translated from french
1. Chapter 1

1)Where am I ?

I have a terrible headache. A warm fluid flows on my eyelids, I wipe it away with the back of my hand, and forced myself to open my eyes. I suffer terribly, and my hand is soaked with blood. I bring it again to my forehead : I can feel under my fingers that the cut is not really deep. I try to get up, and finally manage to sit down ; I look around me, trying to understand what had happened. There is a bloody rock next to me, it probably caused my injury, I must have fallen...

Now, the question is : how have I passed from the state of schoolgirl in math class to injured girl in a forest ! While I'm trying to find a rational explanation to that situatuion, my look falls on a kind oh headband, decorated with a musical note. He is a bit torn on a side, and plastered with clay. But it will make a good bandage, or at least the best I can find for the moment. I grab the headband, and tie it firmly aroud my head. I lied on a tree, and in spite of the absurdity and the precariousness of my situation, I finally fall asleep.

Dash it ! I slept, but I'm still in that nightmare ! This situation is completely surrealistic ! I stare at the trees around me as if they were going to erase at the very moment. Unfortunately, nothing moves, and I suddenly notice the shades are already growing, it is probably later than I thought. I try to get on my feet, stagger, but manage to stay up. Relying on the trees, I start to go in the direstion of the sun, by chance. Anyway, I cannot stay there !

I go on this way for a quarter of an hour, until my attention is attracted by a sound. So happy that I scarcely believe in my luck, I "rush" to its origin. A spring ! What a pleasure ! What a happiness ! At least, water ! I fall to my knees, and drink eagerly. After having satisfied my thirst, I loosen my headband in order to wash it. My wounds immediately starts bleeding again. I clean it up quickly and tie the headband tightly again. I catch a glimpse of my reflection on the water... My long brown hair is sticky with blood, I spend a moment to rinse them off. Washing my hair is not one of my priority, but who knows what the scent of blood might attract! I feel a little reassured now. This source is a new mark, and I feel a little less lost... The night has fallen already, but I am not afraid. I feel like darkness is protecting me. I have always felt that. The stars are beginning to twinkle in the sky. I look up to stare at them, but I cannot recognize any of the constellations. Another strange thing...

I am looking desperately for the North Star in order to situate myself, when an ice-cold touch on my neck makes me start. The blade of a strange, sharp thing is placed there, ready to cut my throat. Frozen, I dare not turn around, and have to guess from his voice that my assailant is a man:

"The sky is indeed beautiful tonight..."


	2. From Charybde to Scylla

2) From Charybde to Scylla

The young woman still didn't dare move, time seemed to be stopped. She felt a hand grab her shoulder and force her to turn around. She didn't even try to resist, as she was completely submerged by the events. The man who was standing before her had grey hair, but she would have sworn he was not even in his thirties. A mask was hiding the lower part of his face, a headband alike the one she had used as a garrotte was concealing his left eye, and he kept his weapon aimed at her throat. He considered her briefly, his one eye lingering on her headband, before coming back to her eyes. This more than insistent gaze made her awkward, but he still had a firm hold on her soulder, and the pressure of the arm on her neck dissuaded her from moving. The young man then noticed how terrified the woman was, and, frowning, he let go of her soulder. Only to put quickly his hand on her brow. She felt a kind of stream running through her, and she fell on the ground, unconscious.

She woke up hours later, feeling like she had slept on a fakir's board. Keeping her eyes closed not to show she was awake, she began to sum up what she knew. Trusting her touch, she was lying on a bed of leaves, and her wrists and ankles were tied with a rope, far too tight for her to even think of getting rid of it. She heard the sound of metal being rubbe against stone, and couldn't help shuddering : her abductor was evidentely sharpening his weapon. She decided she had better not move for the time being.

"Do you plan on faking to sleep for a long time again ?"

He had asked the question casually, as if the answer was of no importance to him. She opened his eyes and glared daggers at him. He stopped polishing his kunaï and came to sit down next to her. Still looking relaxed, he asked :

"May I venture to ask what Oto No Kuni is scheming ? Why did you plan this unexpected raid ?"

Not understanding a word of what he was saying, she decided she had better keep silent. He waited for a while, and sighed.

"I anticipated so much. _He seized her chin to have her look into his eyes, his voice seemed to harden._ I have absolutely no wish to use strenght to get answers to my questions, but as they are fundamental, I will have to do it if you keep on like that !"

She freed her face from his grip, and said, with a shaky voice :

"I have no idea what you are talking about !

-Of course you have an idea ! You are wearing the Oto No Kuni ninja's headband ! And I find you exactly at the place your parter has sent me, I doin't know how by the way ! You…"

She interrupted him, shouting, with tears in her eyes :

" I told you, I don't know what your talking about ! I am not a ninja ! I have nothing to do with Ono To Nuki ! I am only wearing that headband because I found nothing else to dress my wound ! _Her voice broke._ Let me go !"

She started sobbing. The young man found himself dumbfounded : a true ninja never denied his identity, or mispronouce his own village's name… To make sure, he lifted her headband and indeed discovered a slightly infected wound. He slowly put it back in place. Ok it was true… But maybe she simply was a good actress. There was only one way to know that… Getting up quickly, he went out of the cave, only saying :

"We'll see if you are more talkative when I'm back…"

The young woman saw him go away with both relief and alarm. What was he up to ? And above all, what would he do when he came back ? She struggled, trying to get rid of her bonds, when her look fell on the weapon her assailant had used, on a rock next to her. Crowling, she finally managed to go near it, and to seize it between her teeth. She then used ti to cut the links that were holding her wrists, and rubbed them vigorously, to have their strenght and her agility back to normal, and to be able to cut her ankle bonds. When she found herself free at last, she went out of the case as quietly as possible, and went trough the bushes.

Finding herself on the bottom of a mountain, she decided to start climbing to see whether she could take a glimpse af a city, or at least of a road. She started climbing but soon found herself on a path that was going up along the side. Confident, she followed it for a long time, until she heard voices, laughs. Relieved to finally hear human voices, she rushed forward and arrived before a group of men talking around a trunk. When they saw her, they stopped talking and quickly got on their feet. One of them elbowed his neighbour, laughing :

" Hey, that's an unexpected encounter, isn't it ?"

Disconcerted by their behavior, the young woman stopped in her tracks. They were now all grinning, looking her insistently up and down. One of them took a step forward, and she went backwards instinctively. He continued walking toward her, looking threatening...

"Well, no need to be afraid, we're just going to have a littke fun with you..."

The other men started to laugh idiotically, enjoying their victim-to-be's terror. She was still backing away, not noticing she was dangerously close to the edge of the ravine. When she finally saw it, it was too late, her foot had no support left, and she swung at the verge of the gorge. The thugs rushed forward, not really to save her life, but by fear of losing their new toy to a possible death. One of them managed to catch hold of her. Not getting away of the edge, he tried to embrace her, and not caring about the proximity of the ravine, the woman threw her knee in a more than sensitive part of his anatomy. The man shouted with pain, loosening his grip. She tried to run away, but he caught violently her wrist again, and threw his fist to her face...


	3. At the end of kunai

3) At the end of the kunaï

The girl stood frozen, facing the upcoming blow, when her aggressor suddenly interrupted his motion. Diverting her gaze from the man's hand, she looked at his face, and realized a small iron star had just been stuck in his forehead. He stood motionless, as if unable to understand what was going on. Finally, death claimed him as hers, and he fell over the girl. She had nothing left to cling on, and she fell, as in slow-moving. Desperately trying to hold on to the wall, she grated the skin from her hands, her arms, her chest against the unevennesses, and finally managed to grasp a protuberence with her right hand. Something cracked in her shoulder, and she felt an unbearable pain, that made her let go of the rock. She heard a faint wheezing, and a kunaï was landed on the wall, aly inches away of her neck, stopping briskly her fall by nailing her sleeve to it. Her fear of the height still between her and the ground, the terrible pain running through her arm, the shock of seeing that weapon so close to her, and the fear that the person that had thrown it may not miss his target the next time were too many torments for so little time ! The young woman fainted. She therefore didn't hear the fighting sounds above her head, or the fugitives'cries... She didn't see either the masked man climbing down the cliff to reach her. He stopped next to her, grabbed her firmly with one arm, and tore off the kunaï with the other. The shock she felt when she fell in his arms made her open her eyes briefly, but she didn't really regain consciousness. The unknown man took her back to the cave, and carefully put her down again on the dead leaves bed. When her shoulder touched the ground, she woke up... To realize the story was reapeating itself ! She wasn't bound this time, which was quite a progress, but her abductor was looking at her a bit too closely. Frightened, she tried to recoil, but she couldn't move her right arm... He raised an eyebrow :

"I see that you have much trust in me. _He looked more closely at her shoulder. _Wait aminute_..."_

He brought his hand closer to her arm, and the girl started to reach for the kunaï he had hung to his belt with her left hand. He caught her wrist.

"You shouldn't play with that : if you don't know how to handle an arm, it can have unpleasant results..."

She tried to free herself, but he didn't seem keen to let her go. Scared by their proximity, she attempted to shove him away :

"Let go of me !"

Understanding what the problem was by looking at her eyes, he released her, saying :

"That's what was frightening you ! Calm down : if I had wanted to do anything, I would already have !"

Her eyes threw daggers at him. He frowned :

"If you don't want your arm to stay in that shape, you had better let me have a look..."

" Why should you want to help me ? You tried to murder me !"

"When ? When I threw the kunaï ? Are you kidding ? That's what prevented you from crashing onto the ground !"

She was dumfounded.

"Do you mean that... You aimed at the small space between my arm and my sleeve, to save my life, from where you were ? It's not possible ! Nobody could have aimed that accurately !"

"I never miss my target." _He simply said, throwing his kunaï in the direction of the cave entrance._

She heard a dull thud. He took a glance in that direction, and said without emotion :

"By the look of it, one of your attackers has come to take you back..."

She shuddered, remembering what had happened. The yung man noticed it, and placed a hand on his left shoulder :

"It's over, now..."

She looked at him suspiciously, and gradually her expression became grateful.

"How did you understand that I was not a ninj... Ouch !"

She had not been careful enough : when she had finally relaxed, she had relied on her right arm... which couldn't support her. The man bent over her and helped her to lie down, explaining :

"Your way of moving, of defending yourself, you are not one bit alike a ninja ! Except maybe for that "battle wound", which I would like to examinate, by the way !"

She lied down to show she didn't mind, and he cautiously started rolling up her sleeve. But he couldn't roll it all the way up, as her shoulder had already began to inflate. He hesitated for a while, then seized the bottom part of her T-shirt, ant took it off. Seeing her outraged expression, he said :

"You will berate me later ! I'm sorry, but if I don't, your arm will be three times this size tomorrow..."

Resigned, the young woman nevertheless watched all his movements with evident worry. He felt her arms, and placed his hand on her sore shoulder. She felt the same stream than had made her sleep before, and she briskly freed herself from his grip :

"You will not do that twice ! You cannot expect me to trust you if you keep making me sleep without even warning me !"

He raised an inquiring brow.

You may feel the same sensation as when I sent you to sleep, after all, I'm also using my chakra, but this time it will only make you feel better, I promise."

Then, not waiting for an answer, he released a large amount of chakra in her shoulder, which shrank back in place with a curt snap.

"It's done ! You should feel better now, but you will not be able to use your arm normally for a while, and...What on earth is that ?"

He had concentrated on her sore member, and had not noticed before there were lots of scrapes and bruises all over her body. She made a face :

"Well, when I wanted to grasp the wall..."

"Ok, I had better take care of that too !"

He put his hand on her stomach and rubbed them on each wound. The woman shivered, his gestures were neat and gentle, and she felt the pain subside. She realized how tensed she had been when he removed his hands and said :

"It should be ok..."

He sat down again and looked at her for a while. Then, he asked :

"Will you finally explain me why you were strolling on your own in this forest, showing Oto No Kuni's emblem ?"

Her hand went to her forehead.

"If I had known it was going to cause me that much trouble, I wouldn't have picked it up ! I'm going to take it off immediately !"

Seeing that she wasn't able to take it off on her own, he moved forward and helped her to loosen the knot.

"Wow ! How did you do that ?"

"What are yu talking about ?"

"That wound on your forehead is serious, it is not that deep, but it is infected !"

"I know. When I arrived, I banged my head on a rock. Well, I suppose so, I don't really remember... I recall I thought that I was in math lesson just before, though I don't really know what it means..."

"You remember your name, at least ?"

"Of course I do ! My name is..."


	4. Explanations

4) Explanations.

_"You remember your name, at least ?"_

"Of course I do ! My name is…" 

She stopped talking. She wasn't ashame of her name, but… She wasn't really sure about… The more she was thinking, the more her wound ached. Finally, she shook her head :

"I don't know it any more…"

She bit her lower lip. Cool, exactly what she needed ! She was lost in the middle of nowhere, with a man she knew nothing about, and she didn't even know who she was ! She sighed :

"I have forgotten everything ! Everything ! I don't even know how I came here !"

The ninja frowned.

"I think I can easily explain you that… The relations between my village and the Oto No Kuni village have always been a bit… tense. And some days ago, as I was patrolling with my squad, we were attacked by some of the Oto No Kuni ninjas. I ended fighting on my own against one of them, and to make me vulnerable, he used a special jutsu to carry us as far away as he could : here. We fought for quite a long time, and he was beginning to weaken, so he used another teleportation jutsu. The only problem was, he had nearly no chakra left, and so her couldn't use his jutsu normally. So, to be certain it would work, he traded places instead of simply changing, and he used it on his astral twin. Actually, it happened to you because you were born the same day and at the same hour than he was… **(concerning astral twins, the year doesn't count)** «

« But… But that means a madman is wandering in my city at that very moment ! »

« Well, he was really weakened, so I the ninjas of your village must have overcome him easily. »

« Yeah, but… There are no ninjas, where I live !

« You have no ninjas ? **The young man seemed astonished. ** But what if you are under attack ? »

« We are never under attack… But if we were, we would have ways to fight back ! »

« There is no need to worry, then ! »

There was a long pause. Finally, the girl raised her head. She had tears in her eyes.

« Sir… How will I make it back home ? »

The ninja turned to face her, looking confused.

« I don't know… » He hesitated for a while, then added. «Don't call me Sir, I'm not that old ! My name is Kakashi. »

She sighed slowly. It wasn't bad enough that she couldn't get back home, she couldn't even remember her own name ! Holding back her tears, she said, with a slightly shaking voice :

« It's easier to have a name, isn't it ? I think I will use a new one until I get my real one back… Even… Even if I will remember it soon, won't I ? »

The copy-ninja heard something pleading in her voice.

« I'm convinced you will… »

The girl gave him a small smile, and began to think aloud :

« Then, a name than fits me… »

« Suki ? »

He had said it unvoluntarily, without thinking about it. But at that moment, thinking about its significance, he would nearly have wanted to disappear or to sink in the ground. However, she didn't even react, she simply smiled.

« Sounds good to me… Does it mean anything ? »

The ninja forced himself to hide his surprise : how came she didn't understand ?

« N…No. » _he lied._

The girl found his voice strange, but when as she was about to ask him about it, she was taken by a kind of dizziness : everything turned blue around her, and she felt like she wasn't in control of her body anymore. It was falling slowly, and she could do nothing to prevent it. The ninja held his arm out, just in time to catch her before she hit the ground. She heard is voice, as if she was far, far away :

« That's because of your head wound ! You should have let me take care of it before ! »

She felt the chakra flowing into her wound again, and the pain die down… but she still couldn't come back to reality. Kakashi made her lie on her leaves bed. Then, remembering she had eaten nothing since the day before, but not wanting to leave her alone like that, he waited at the cave entrance until he could kill a careless hare. He then gathered some wood to a place where he had visibly used to make a fire the day before, and muttered, making the appropriate seals with his hands :

« Goukkalyu no jutsu. »

He then blowed gently a fire ball that ignited the branches and soon burnt strongly enough to cook the hare. Suki, still half-unconscious, watched the spectacle, wondering whether she was dreaming or was completely crazy. When the meal was cooked, Kakashi brought her some, but she wasn't fit enough to eat. So, he took in his bag a small bowl in which he chopped the meat, then he added water and warmed it again. With effort, Suki managed to swallow some of that broth, and she finally seemed healthier than before when she went to sleep soundly.

When she woke up the day after, she was alone. Slightly worried, she walked to the cave entrance where she found the ninja engrossed in a book. Hearing her steps, he hastily put it away and turned to face her.

« All better now ? »

She immediately decided not to talk about her previous hallucinations.** (When he blows out fire…)**

« Yes, thanks. »

There was a pause.

« Suki ? »

« Hmmm ? _she seemed lost in her thoughts._ What ? »

« I… I've been thinking … And… I think a way for you to go back home. »


End file.
